Things That Make Me Smile

Looking for hungry schoolkid customers

   Well, the charms of Penang have helped me overcome the loneliness of being "suddenly single" now that Hubby is off working in Japan. It's no fun living alone when you're used to daily companionship.  But there are so many wonder-ful things about Malaysia and Penang, it's hard to stay sad for long. 
     
     Last week I was dragging myself forlornly back home, sans husband, through the Kuala Lumpur airport at 4:30 a.m.  Some Indian Malaysian fellow was just doing his job, but he somehow seemed to detect that I needed cheeringup.  He just chattered away at me politely and kindly as I approached, passed him and moved on.  It was silly, inconsequential greetings.  But he'll never know how his sweet early-morning words encouraged me and welcomed me back to Malaysia!


    Even after a year (almost) of living here in Penang, I'm still entranced every day by ordinary things I see around me.  For example, that blue mobile snack shop pictured here.  Underneath all the empty-calorie fried snacks there's a motorbike and driver somewhere.  He plies his route every day after school, looking for hungry kids to buy his junk food.  The bags sometimes drag on the ground if he corners too sharply, but he doesn't seem to care.  I need to be as carefree about things in my own life, I reckon.

Lookin' for love in a car park!

   And how could anyone stay sad when even a car is batting its eyelashes at you?  Could the driver have parked any closer to that pillar?


   Even my coffee made eye contact with me this morning!  It was daring me to drink it up, and I did!

  There's someone else who smiles at me when our paths cross.  It's our postman. He would put more smiles on my face if he occasionally had a letter to put into my mailbox, rather than a bill.  So, if you're a friend of mine who's reading this, how about writing me a letter?